Youth Offending Team (YOT)This page contains everything you need to know about the Youth Offending Team.
This page also contains information for parents and guardians, and information for Victims of Crime.
- A Team Manager
- An Operational Manager
- 2 Social Workers
- A Court / Information Officer
- 3 Youth Justice Workers
- A Referral Order Co-ordinator
- An ISSP Co-ordinator
- 2 ISSP Project Workers
- A Part-time Youth Justice Worker
- A Part-time Probation Officer
- A Drug & Alcohol Worker
- A Training/Employment Manager
- A Health Visitor
- A Police Officer
- An Education Welfare Officer
- 1 Administrative Assistant
- 1 Clerical Assistant
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The Government has given Youth Offending Teams two objectives:
- “To Prevent Offending”
- “To Prevent Re-Offending”
The following services are provided:
- Appropriate Adult
- Supported Final Warning
- Bail Support
- Remand Management
- Pre-sentence Reports
- Supervision of all Community Sentences.
- Management of Custodial Sentences.
- Supervision in the Community following release from Custody.
- Health Assessments
- Substance Misuse Assessments
- Assistance with accommodation
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The Youth Offending Team is required to produce an Annual Plan, setting out how it intends to prevent offending and re-offending.
All information on a young person who has offended is recorded onto a computerised system.
Quarterly Reports are generated from the computer, and are sent to the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, who monitor the success or failure of the Youth Offending Team.
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Being a parent is a difficult and challenging job. We aim to offer you a supportive and practical service to develop you parenting skills positively.
How Can This Help? There are many reasons why teenagers are un-co-operative and display difficult and challenging behaviours.
- Parenting Support Programmes offer families an opportunity to gain individual advice and support for any issues that concern them.
- Reducing Stress
- Effective Communication
- Addressing Anti-Social Behaviour
- Access to Local Support Groups / Agencies
- Changes that Teenagers may go through
- Parenting Styles and What Works
- Self-Esteem
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What can you expect from the Parenting Course?
- Time to share any difficulties you may have with your children
- To realise that you are not alone when it comes to problem teenagers
- To be listened to and supported
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The Health Visitor working within the Youth Offending Team will contact you to arrange a home visit.
The first visit will involve an assessment / understanding of the family and those people close to the young person. A planned programme of visits will involve a minimum of 6 visits over a period of 12 weeks. The programme is flexible, and arranged to suit your needs and requirements. An evaluation of the programme will be undertaken, to provide evidence of how valuable the support was to you.
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We know that being a victim of crime can be an extremely upsetting experience and we want to do all we can to help you come to terms with any distress and loss you may have suffered.
We aim to prevent young people offending and make communities feel safer.
We have found that one of the best ways to encourage young people from committing other crimes is to make them face up to the consequences of their actions and the harm they have caused.
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How This Could Help You?
Many victims have found that becoming involved in the process helps them to deal with harm caused by the crime.
We are well aware of the ‘ripple effect’ of crime and that the crime may have affected not only yourself, but also those people who are close to you.
We believe that young people who commit crimes should be encouraged to take responsibility for the harm and loss they have caused their victims.
They will also be expected to make amends in some way for what they have done.
Telling them how their actions have affected you will make them face up to the facts and will increase their understanding of the harm they have caused.
Telling the offender what you have gone through and having your questions answered may also help you feel better.
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1. Victim Offender Mediation
Victim Offender Mediation will give you the opportunity to meet with the offender in a ‘safe’ and supervised environment. You will be able to tell the offender how you feel, how their actions have affected you and ask them questions you want answers to. This will hopefully make the offender face up to what they have done. The will also be expected to repair the harm caused to you and you will be given the opportunity to say how this could be best achieved.
2. Views Expressed
If you do not want to meet the offender, but would like the offender to know how you have been affected, the Youth Offending Team can arrange the following:
- Your thoughts, feelings or questions read out to the offender.
- You could submit an audio or video recording with your thoughts, feelings or questions.
- You could receive information from the Youth Offending Team about the type of reparation the offender is involved in.
3. Letter of Explanation or Apology
If you decide not to see the offender, but would like to know why they have committed the offence against you or your property, we can ask the offender to write a letter to you explaining their actions. We can then send you this letter, without the offender having to know your identity.
4. Personal Reparation
Sometimes there may be practical things the offender could do to repair some of the harm caused to you or your business, i.e. tidying your garden etc. We can ask the offender to carry out the work whilst being supervised at all times by a member of staff from the Youth Offending Team. In such circumstances, a full health & safety risk assessment is carried out, prior to the work being undertaken.
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Merthyr Tydfil Youth Offending Team
The Law Courts,
Glebeland Place,
Merthyr Tydfil.
CF47 8BU
Tel: 01685 724960
Fax: 01685 359726
Office Hours:
Monday – Thursday 9.00am – 5.00pm
Friday – 9.00am – 4.30pm
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